Dictionary: Prayer

A distinction needs to be made between the various occurrences of the words “pray” and “prayer” in most translations of the Bible and the modern connotation of the same words. In the OT, the main Hebrew words translated as “to pray” and “prayer” (palal and tepillah) refer to the act of bringing a petition or request before God. They do not normally, if ever, refer to the other elements that we today think of as being included in the act of praying, such as praise or thanksgiving. The same is the case in the NT, where the main Greek words translated “to pray” and “prayer” (proseuchomai and proseuchē) also specifically denote making a petition or request to God. But other words and constructions in both Testaments are also translated “to pray” and “prayer,” and this article will deal with the larger concept, including praise, thanksgiving, petition, and confession, as opposed to the narrower meaning of the particular Hebrew and Greek terms (see also Praise; Thanksgiving; Worship).

Old Testament

In the OT there is no language or understanding comparable to modern ways of talking about prayer as conversational or dialogical. Prayer does not involve mutuality. Prayer is something that humans offer to God, and the situation is never reversed; God does not pray to humans. Understanding this preserves the proper distinction between the sovereign God and the praying subject. Therefore, prayers in the OT are reverential. Some OT prayers have extended introductions, such as that found in Neh. 1:5, that seem to pile up names for God. These should be seen as instances not of stiltedness or ostentation, but rather as setting up a kind of “buffer zone” in recognition of the distance between the Creator and the creature. In the NT, compare the same phenomenon in Eph. 1:17.

Many of the prayers in the OT are explicitly set in a covenantal context. God owes nothing to his creatures, but God has sworn to be faithful to those with whom he has entered into covenant. Thus, many OT prayers specifically appeal to the covenant as a motivation for both those praying and God’s answering (1 Kings 8:23–25; Neh. 1:5–11; 9:32; Pss. 25:10–11; 44:17–26; 74:20; 89:39–49). In postexilic books such as Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel, an important feature in the recorded prayers is the use of prior Scripture, praying God’s words (many times covenantal) back to him (in the NT, see Acts 4:24–30). Also, the closeness engendered by the covenant relationship between God and his people was unique in the ancient Near Eastern context. So Moses can marvel, “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?” (Deut. 4:7).

Prayer must be made from a heart that is right toward God. There is no guarantee that God will hear every prayer (Ps. 66:18; Prov. 1:28; Isa. 1:15; 59:2). For the most part, the “rightness” that God requires in prayer is “a broken and contrite heart” (Ps. 51:17; cf. Isa. 66:2).

Although several passages talk about prayer in the context of sacrifice (e.g., Gen. 13:4), there is surprisingly little emphasis on prayer in the legal texts about sacrifice in the Pentateuch, no prescriptions for the kinds of prayer or the words that are to be said in connection with the sacrifices. Interestingly, however, in later, perhaps postexilic contexts, where there is no temple and therefore no sacrifice, we find texts such as Ps. 141:2, where the petitioner asks God to accept prayer as if it were an offering of incense and the evening sacrifice (cf. Prov. 15:8; in the NT, see Rev. 5:8).

A presupposition of prayer in the OT is that God hears prayer and may indeed answer and effect the change being requested. Prayer is not primarily about changing the psychological state or the heart of the one praying, but rather about God changing the circumstances of the one praying.

There is a striking honesty, some would even say brashness, evident in many OT prayers. Jeremiah laments that God has deceived both the people (Jer. 4:10) and Jeremiah himself (20:7) and complains about God’s justice (12:1–4). Job stands, as it were, in God’s face and demands that the Almighty answer his questions (Job 31:35–37). The psalmist accuses God of having broken his covenant promises (Ps. 89:39). While it is true that God does, to some extent, rebuke Jeremiah and Job (Jer. 12:5; Job 38–42), he does not ignore them or cast them aside. This would seem, ultimately, to encourage such honesty and boldness on the part of those who pray.

Literarily, accounts of prayers in narratives serve to provide characterizations of the ones praying. The recorded prayers of people such as Abraham, Moses, Hannah, Ezra, and Nehemiah demonstrate their true piety and humility before God. By contrast, the prayer of Jonah recorded in Jon. 2, in its narrative context, betrays a certain hypocrisy on the part of the reluctant prophet.

New Testament

The depiction of prayer in the NT is largely consistent with that of the OT, but there are important developments.

Jesus tells his disciples to address God as “Father” (Matt. 6:9; cf. Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Although recent scholarship has demonstrated that “Abba” is not the equivalent of our “daddy,” it expresses a certain intimacy that goes beyond what was prevalent at the time, but retains an element of reverence as well. God is not just “Father,” but “our Father in heaven” (Matt. 6:9). Even Jesus addresses God as “Holy Father” (John 17:11), “Righteous Father” (John 17:25), and “Father, Lord of heaven and earth” (Matt. 11:25). And Paul, as mentioned earlier, uses a buffer zone, rarely in his epistles using the word “Father” by itself, but instead referring to “God our Father” (e.g., Rom. 1:7) and frequently using the phrase “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; 11:31; Eph. 1:3; cf. Eph. 1:17; Col. 1:3). God is our Father, but still he is a Father before whom one reverently kneels (Eph. 3:14).

Prayer to God is now to be made in the name of Jesus (Matt. 18:19–20; John 14:13; 15:16; 16:23–26). While there is some debate as to the exact nuance of this idea, it seems clear that, at the very least, prayers in Jesus’ name need to be ones that Jesus would affirm and are in accordance with his holy character and expressed will. It is, in essence, saying to God that the prayer being offered is one that Jesus would approve.

Prayer can also be made to Jesus (John 14:14), and such devotion to him in the early church is evidence of his being regarded as deity. The instances of this in the NT are rare, however, and generally either exclamatory or rhetorical (Acts 7:59; 1 Cor. 16:22; Rev. 22:20). The norm would still seem to be that prayer is to be made to the Father, through Jesus’ name.

Unlike anything prior in the OT, Jesus tells his followers to pray for their enemies (Matt. 5:44). Jesus and his followers serve as examples (Luke 23:34; Acts 7:60).

The Holy Spirit plays a vital role in prayers. It is by him that we are able to call out, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). The Spirit himself intercedes for us (Rom. 8:26). Our praying is to be done in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18; Jude 20; possibly 1 Cor. 14:15).

Jesus encourages fervent and even continual or repeated prayer (Luke 18:1–8), but not showy or repetitive prayer (Matt. 6:5–8).

Jesus becomes the model of prayer. He prays before important decisions (Luke 6:12–13) and in connection with significant crisis points (Matt. 14:23; 26:36–44; Luke 3:21; 9:29; John 12:27). He offers prayers that are not answered (Luke 22:41–44) and prayers that are (Heb. 5:7). Even as he tells his disciples to always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1 [which is also the meaning of the sometimes overly literalized “pray without ceasing” in 1 Thess. 5:17 NRSV]), so he himself wrestles in prayer (Luke 22:41–44; Heb. 5:7). He has prayed for his disciples (John 17; Luke 22:32), and even now, in heaven, he still intercedes for us (Heb. 7:25). Indeed, our intercession before God’s throne is valid because his is (Heb. 4:14–16).

Synonyms: invocation, intercession, devotion, appeal, plea, entreaty, petition, solicitation, supplication, request, suit
Antonyms: demand something, insist
Showing 1476 to 1500 of 4877 results
Sermon
Rodney Thomas Smothe
... testimony of God's promise not only restored Tabitha's life, but brought hope to that entire community. Peter sent the crowds away and called upon the name of the Lord. While we don't know the exact words he prayed, we do know that God answered his prayer and Tabitha was raised from the dead. "Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up" (9:40b). This miracle of resurrection became known all over the region of Joppa, and many people believed in the Lord. Some have said that a picture is worth a ...
Sermon
Glenn E. Ludwig
... walk with our God. The issue for us is never, therefore, one of avoiding our doubts as if that will cure us of them. Thomas Carlyle once wrote: "The credibility gap in our communications with God is evident in the way we launder our thoughts and feelings so our prayers present no hint of doubt, no trace of question, and no scents of anger -- and only half our hearts." No, the issue for us is how to be good doubters; how to walk like Thomas honestly into the middle of them, no matter how scary and alone that ...
Sermon
John G. Lynch
... to burn villages to the ground. Some want to go home for three months to say good-bye to everybody before they do anything. They will never get started." Mary kept on listening. "I told this scribe, who wanted to do something to inherit eternal life, to say his prayer every day: 'Love the Lord your God with your whole mind and soul and strength,' and then I told him, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Do you know what he said? 'And who is my neighbor?' So I told him the story of the Good Samaritan but I don ...
Sermon
Thomas Long
... in Matthew's description of the betrayal of Jesus by Judas. What happens is this: The time of Jesus' death has come. He has shared a last meal with his disciples and then, separating himself from the others, prayed the great prayer of anguish in Gethsemane's garden. Rising from prayer, he returns to the disciples and announces ominously, "See, my betrayer is at hand." Right on cue, Judas rattles on stage with a clumsy band of thugs armed with swords and clubs. Judas and his cohorts have a secret signal ...
Sermon
William B. Kincaid, III
... was no discussion to it. The man simply used Peterson as an audience and lectured endlessly about Ephesians to the young boy. Finally, Peterson encountered one who treated his God-interest and prayer-hunger with dignity. Instead of trying to shovel Peterson full of pious wisdom or viewing him as a "project," a man named Rueben Lance prayerfully listened to Peterson and all his hopes and fears, questions and feelings. Years later Peterson would write, "He let me be. He didn't mess with my soul. He treated me ...
1481. How Much Sin Is Too Much?
Matthew 5:13-16, Matthew 5:17-20
Sermon
William B. Kincaid, III
... to call."1 How much can I sin and still go to heaven? Lest we fail to recognize the question in that form, perhaps these will sound more familiar. How often can I miss worship and still remain in God's favor? How much prayer time can I forsake and still count on God to hear my prayers when they are the most urgent? We try to walk the tight rope between doing a lot of things that we want to do for ourselves, but we are careful not to get so carried away that we fail to attend to the things ...
Sermon
Ronald Lavin
... to underwrite the cost of a long voyage to Africa where she planned to work as a missionary. Her efforts left her far short of her goal and she wondered "Why doesn't God help me when I'm trying to do his work?" In desperation she went to a prayer meeting at a local church, but her spirits were so low, she couldn't take part. An older woman in the group prayed first and Adelaide was surprised by what she heard. Instead of the usual petitions for blessings in the form of improved health, the safety of her ...
Sermon
Jerry Eckert
... to hear all that religious stuff. Matthal did not think of himself as religious. He neverwent to Minyan. Even when the men needed him to make up theten required by law for the worship service, Matthal felt itwas hypocritical to sit in on the prayers and the Messiahtalk that always followed. He had not learned that much atsynagogue. He seldom got there after bar mitzvah. His dadand the rabbi had disagreed about something, so his dadalways had found some important chore for Matthal to dowhenever it was time ...
Sermon
John A. Terry
... cancel out God's judgment. Our God is a God of mercy, but when we expect to receive mercy without giving mercy, the parable tells us about the nature of God's judgment. When we live a life without mercy, we live a life without hope. There is a communion prayer whose words include these: "We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy table. But Thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy." Mercy is what God seeks to give, but when we are unmerciful, we block God's mercy. It ...
1485. Standing Firm
Isaiah 50:1-11
Sermon
E. Carver McGriff
... and it behooves even the most firmly convinced person to stop and re-examine. Sometimes we're wrong. As to how we can be sufficiently sure of ourselves to remain firm in the face of criticism and strong opposition, it's obviously important that we say our prayers and that we earnestly try to listen to our opponents. In Isaiah's case, we can't really measure him on that. Perhaps to be a prophet in the Old Testament tradition, one must wear blinders and simply forge ahead in one's beliefs. Certainly, history ...
Sermon
William G. Carter
... , until she read the titles of the books. There were books about esoteric crystals and secret pyramids. One book offered tips on getting in touch with past lives. Another suggested ways to interpret dreams. There wasn't a Bible to be seen. There were no books on prayer or studies on the Sermon on the Mount. A sales clerk said, "Have you found what you're looking for?" "Not exactly," she replied. "Well, we're proud of our section on spirituality," the clerk said. "We do our best to keep up with the latest ...
Sermon
John A. Stroman
... but out-of-doors. In T.S. Eliot's "Murder in the Cathedral" the priest bars the doors of the great Church of Canterbury against would-be assailants. Thomas … Becket would not permit it. He shouted, "Unbar the doors. I will not have the house of prayer, the Church of Christ, the sanctuary turned into a fortress. The church shall be open, even to our enemies. Open the doors!" Another story goes that a church member, branded as a sinner, was forbidden to enter the church. He took his problem to the Lord ...
Sermon
Jerry Eckert
... you a decent place." "You're not very religious, are you?" Joseph observed. "You need that water. We can talk over lunch," Matthal said as he started for the door. "Matthal, don't worry about it ... the observation I made. Not everyone has visions and says prayers and does all the religious things. I really think that the ones who welcome the stranger, who feed the hungry, who give water to the thirsty, I think God wants that from us more than anything else," Joseph said. "Aw, teach it to your boy," Matthal ...
1489. The Merciful
Matthew 18:21-35
Sermon
John A. Terry
... cancel out God's judgment. Our God is a God of mercy, but when we expect to receive mercy without giving mercy, the parable tells us about the nature of God's judgment. When we live a life without mercy, we live a life without hope. There is a communion prayer whose words include these: "We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under Thy table. But Thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy." Mercy is what God seeks to give, but when we are unmerciful, we block God's mercy. It ...
Sermon
Donald Macleod
... when we invest our faith in its use, he multiplies it. Maybe it is a spare hour given by a busy businessman to teach a Sunday school class every week. Maybe it is a brief moment taken by a harried mother to teach her children their evening prayers. Maybe it is a few hours given by a university student every weekend to coach a team of orphaned boys whose daily horizon is a slum. These are merely fragments, scattered pieces of humanity, but in the hands of such dedicated persons, the possibilities of human ...
Sermon
Charles R. Leary
... the festival of liberation, a long history of memories from the time of Moses. Already this takes us away from the bare physical to higher levels of meaning. It would be our natural mind-set to expect Jesus to call such a crowd to prayer. Instead of calling them to prayer, he asked if there were food available. He obviously knew what Woodrow Wilson stated so explicitly, “No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.” Oh, yes, I am sure Jesus could pray on an empty stomach, but, since ...
Sermon
Charles R. Leary
... up, shower, have breakfast, it’s time to go to work. On Sunday, I like to sleep late. Now and then, I like to go fishing, or spend a weekend away. When away, I don’t know where the nearest church is. And so I say a private prayer on my way to the beach and leave it at that.” The Passover in the ancient Jewish community reflects a way of capturing and making quality time. They used Unleavened Bread because it was quickly prepared. Requiring no waiting for it to rise, Unleavened Bread became the symbol ...
Sermon
Thomas Peterson
... people under control was nothing more than hypocrisy. Likewise with obeying the law and feeling smugly self-satisfied. And, false prayers and worship were shown, over and over by the prophets, to veil a deceitful heart. Pride could run throughout ... us and then cut us off. A core teaching of the Bible is that righteousness is not perfect behavior, ritual purity, proper feeling in prayer. Rather it is the putting foremost the one God and having no other loyalties to weaken the bond or take his place. Here we ...
1494. The Banquet
John 6:25-59
Sermon
Robert Salzgeber
... . They desired to get to God. But this idea still made God distant and difficult to get to as well as approach. In this case one needed to possess the correct formula, steps, degrees, and assume the proper position and posturing in meditation, chants, rites, thoughts and prayers. All was said and done according to proper protoc_esermonsol so as not to offend the gods. All this in order to get to God! But in our text, Jesus "tells it like it is," he comes clean with the people. He tells the people that they ...
Sermon
Leonard H. Budd
... Their faith was so strong that some begged "to be allowed to touch even the tassel of his robe; and all who touched it were restored to health." Those are Mark's words. Such was the faith in God's power through Jesus that even to touch the little prayer shawl tassel would bring healing. We do not need to understand, with our scientific mind set, all the ways by which healing took place 2,000 years ago. If a broken life is made whole, it is a miracle whether it followed the science of psychology and medicine ...
1496. Where's The Treasure?
Luke 1:5-25, Luke 1:26-38
Sermon
Thomas Long
... museum, they do not move quickly or easily to the next one. You can feel their emotion, almost hear their cries, "O God, don't let that be all there is. Somewhere, somehow, set things right." Luke's word to us this day is that God hears those prayers, and that it is into just such situations of hopelessness and helplessness that the power of God is born. It is there that God entrusts the treasure, lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things -- setting things right. On a dark night in a feed ...
Sermon
Mark J. Molldrem
... in Dallas, Texas. A bus driver, who escorted a group of teenagers from Wisconsin, was tragically shot in the motel parking lot in a senseless act of violence. His daughter, Becky, wrote a letter to the Christian youth from other areas who responded to the family grief with prayers, letters of encouragement and memorial gifts of love. Here is a portion of her response. It reflects the victory of faith that can conquer the worst that the world can hurl at us. Dear Christian friends, Thank you so much for your ...
Sermon
Richard A. Wing
... words in prison before a trial that could lead to his death. You want to talk about tension? With that tension in mind, read Paul's words again: Rejoice! -- Let your gentleness be known to everyone! -- Do not worry about anything! -- In everything by prayer and thanksgiving, let God know what you want! -- And the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus! The kind of tension I have experienced at Christmas has nothing to do with the texts that are ...
1499. The Mark Upon Us
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Sermon
Lee Griess
... sin that is also part of all of our lives. In spite of Jesus' call for works of kindness done for their own reward and prayer done in secret, there is a need for us to begin Lent by looking deeper. And that is, in fact, the thrust of the reading ... it happens each time we gather in worship, each time we offer ourselves in service to others, each time we close ourselves off in prayer, and each time we offer ourselves to God. We begin the Lenten journey this year by recognizing the marks upon us, by reaffirming ...
Sermon
Lee Griess
... no one will notice the difference. After all, we are not as bad as others around us, are we? And we do bring an offering to church, even though it may be less than we spend weekly on entertainment. And we do plan on reading our Bibles and saying our prayers, sometime, don't we? How often we live as strangers to God and try to claim we are citizens of heaven and hope no one notices the difference. But the Season of Lent reminds us that God knows. That we may be able to fool ourselves (and even those around ...
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